Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Millions of Christians to unite in prayer for revival

Millions of Christians across the church denominations will be urged
to join the Archbishop of Canterbury's prayer initiative ahead of
Pentecost next year.

Churches throughout the UK and around the world will unite to pray
for more people to come to faith as the evangelism drive enters its
second year. Millions could join in 2017 after the 'Thy Kingdom Come'
enterprise saw more than 100,000 Christians gather in prayer in 2016.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby launched Thy Kingdom Come alongside the Archbishop of York John Sentamu last year.

Catholics, Baptists, Pentecostals, Copts, Methodists, Orthodox
Christians and members of free churches will unite under the Anglican
umbrella after the presidents of Churches Together in England (CTE)
announced on Monday they would accept the invitation to pray in the 10
days before Pentecost 2017.

"We want to encourage our brothers and sisters in churches of all
traditions to partner in praying 'Thy Kingdom Come' in the days leading
up to Pentecost 2017," the presidents said in a statement. "There is no
prescription about how we should pray; we hope each church will
participate in a way that is authentic to them and where possible to
engage in this with their partner churches in their area."

They will write to their churches – which range from Seventh-Day
Adventists churches to Coptic Orthodox churches – and encourage them to
participate.

"We pray to the Father that his family, called
to be one in Jesus Christ, may see the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to
transform many lives and communities in our land," they said.

Bishop Dr Eric Brown, the Pentecostal president for CTE, said: "What
started off as a CofE event, is emerging as a global event."

The Archbishop of Canterbury, another of the six presidents of CTE,
said the 2016 movement had been "profoundly moving" and added: "As we
look ahead to 2017 there is growing desire, as beautiful as it is
remarkable, among people of so many denominations and nations to pray
together for more people to know Jesus Christ.

"I pray that Christians everywhere say yes to this movement of the
Spirit, and come together as one in prayer. This is about asking God to
fill us with fresh joy and confidence to be the witnesses to Jesus
Christ that we are called to be – as individuals and as churches – so
that we may share His life-transforming love with those around us."

Archbishop Welby has also extended the invitation to all the Anglican provinces around the world.

The other presidents of CTE are Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the
Catholic Archbishop of Westminster; the Revd Dr Hugh Osgood, Free
Churches Moderator; the Revd Canon Billy Kennedy,who represents the New
Churches, Quakers and the Lutheran and German-speaking Churches and
Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira and Great Britain, the President for
the Orthodox Churches.